The ASUS ZenFone 7 Pro Review: The Triple Flip-Camera
by Andrei Frumusanu on September 1, 2020 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Asus
- Smartphones
- ZenFone 7
- ZenFone 7 Pro
Display Measurement
The display panel of the ZenFone 7’s is made by Samsung and comes in at a resolution of 2400 x 1080 and a 90Hz refresh rate. There’s nothing too much out of the ordinary for the specs, and represents the middle-ground of what we should expect out of a 2020 smartphone.
Calibration-wise, we see the same display profiles page as on the ROG Phone III, giving us a few different display profiles to choose from. I noted that out of the box the ZenFone 7 was quite blue on its default profile, however switching over to the “Standard” profile will give you the most accurate sRGB colour profile with colour temperature near a 6500K target.
We move on to the display calibration and fundamental display measurements of the ZenFone 7 Pro screen. As always, we thank X-Rite and SpecraCal, as our measurements are performed with an X-Rite i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer, with the exception of black levels which are measured with an i1Display Pro colorimeter. Data is collected and examined using Portrait Display's CalMAN software.
In terms of brightness, the phone reaches 450nits in maximum manual mode, while boosting up to 652nits at full-screen white (100% average picture level). It’s very respectable and gives good legibility in sunlight, albeit a bit behind some of the newer generation displays from the competition.
In the standard profile, colour temperature on my ZenFone 7 Pro sample was a little warm as whites came in at 6340K and average colour temperature over the levels range ended up at 6251K. I actually noted this out of the box, and I preferred to use the colour temperature slider to slightly give cooler tones. We’re still measuring and publishing the default settings for the article though.
In terms of gamma, the ZenFone 7 Pro exhibits the same characteristic as the ROG Phone III in that the device is targeting a 2.4 target rather than the standard 2.2 target for typical web content and the sRGB profile. This results in slightly darker tones in colours.
The saturations accuracy in the sRGB gamut weren’t as good as on the ROG Phone III. Beyond the colour temperature and gamma offset, the ZenFone 7 Pro also showcased some off-hue colours in the magenta range, with some undersaturated reds and blue mid-levels.
The Gretag MacBeth test fared a little better, although unlike the ROG3 where the errors mostly lay in the luminosity of the colour patches, the ZenFone also has a stronger off-target saturations, mostly being undersaturated.
ASUS’s marketing claims of some unspecified deltaE of below 1 however are quite far-fetched as beyond the non-standard gamma you also have quite a bit of off-target colour temperature as well as saturation mishaps. I wish vendors would stop proclaiming specifications which just don’t hold up in practice.
Overall, the display of the ZenFone 7 Pro is pretty adequate and well in line with competing devices at this price range.
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PeachNCream - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
Introducing the ASUS ZenFone 7 with twice as much gimmicky camera market differentiator at a cost of functionality as last year's model!RollingCamel - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
I would suggest a revisit the camera performance for a number of phones while using GCAM. Should be an interesting read.Here is the link for Zenphone 7/pro GCAM files.
https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/p/gcam-...
skavi - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
i was hoping to see the panorama mechanism in action. that’s a really cool idea.eastcoast_pete - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
Thanks Andrei! With video recording being a key interest of mine, the lackluster performance disqualifies this phone for me already. Too bad ASUS spent all their engineering time on gadgetry, and not on making the camera function what it could and should have been.FredFlog - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
I know ASUS is a Taiwanese company but does anyone know exactly in which country this phone is produced / assembled / made?Kashif ali - Tuesday, September 1, 2020 - link
Sir I need Asus Zenfone v 520 kl unitldx00 - Wednesday, September 2, 2020 - link
I think Asus are losing their way. They are not a premium manufacturer for 2 very important reasons. Their software and their support is terrible. I have had many Asus products but I am now seriously going off them. Their hardware is always great, I mean really good, but their software is often buggy and most importantly of all, is never maintained for as long as you might expect and is often abandoned way too quickly, even by budget manufacturer standards, never mind a premium one. At least unlock the bootloader or something so we can keep using the products. I know they have done this for some products but it's too random which products get it and which not. One of the most horrible examples come from their tablets, specifically the Z500KL which I own (zenpad 3S 10 LTE). It was a very expensive tablet, over £300 at the time and was vertigo made and functions well to this day, after 3.5 years of heavy use, yet it shipped with android 6 which was already basically obsolete, then it got 1 android version update to 7 and that was it... Almost no security updates either. They have released a bootloader unlock for the Z500M, the non LTE version, but nothing for the Z500KL. With this kind of attitude, they will never be accepted as a premium phone manufacturer. I have to say though that I do like the flat screen on a top end device. I hate the curved screens and if it wasn't for the software and the ridiculous price, this could well be an attractive set of phones. Also, no headphone jack. Pity...gutsonator - Saturday, September 5, 2020 - link
One of the main issues I have with Asus phones is software rather than hardware. Phone runs fine until you get an update that screws up a major issue like sound or display or even brick your phone completely like what happens to my zenfone 4.Also Asus after zenfone 4 started to cut cost on the OS but removing the customization features they used to provide
gamer1000k - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
I've got a Zenfone 6 and was excited to read about the 7 until I read that the headphone jack was removed, and the price went up 50%. Hard pass.itsjustaprankbro - Wednesday, January 6, 2021 - link
I don't get all these salty comments. I bought a Zenfone 7 Pro and I LOVE this device. The phone feels extra premium. The camera is great. The performance is superb. Sound is great, call quality is great, signal/reception/GPS is great. Everything is awesome about it, I really have NO clue why people are complaining all this much.Before this phone I've had a OnePlus 7 Pro, Mate 20, then a Note 10+, then a Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro. This is the best phone (both software and hardware wise) out all of them, hands down.
No, ASUS have not paid me a cent to make this post. I just truly believe this phone is awesome. I wish they'd have used IPS LCD on this phone as well (just like on the 6), but whatever, it works.